If I was ever to believe in fate or destiny, the story behind my husband, Neil Lessard, and Stonegate Rolex winning the 1998 NSTRA Champion of Champions trial would be proof enough. Rolex first came to our kennel in 1993, with an entire litter that belonged to Dillion Lunsford. Over a period of a few months, we returned all the pups except Rolex. He was the one Neil felt had the greatest potential to win NSTRA events, and, in the fall of 1994, Rolex started to earn a few placements. But Mr. Lunsford wanted to sell the dog. First Rolex went to Cananda for a year, and then to an owner in Illinois for another year. During this time, Rolex continued to earn placements but wasn't really living up to the potential Neil felt he had. We received a call and Rolex was for sale again.

As soon as Neil hung up, he got in his pickup, and went over to talk to Fred Gray, who owns the local appliance store. He told him Rolex was for sale again, and he ought to consider buying him. Fred was looking for another dog, but he was concerned this one had been passed around too much. He wanted to think about it.

A week later, Fred gave us the go ahead, and we made arrangements to pick Rolex up in Indiana while we were at a trial. After some refresher work, Fred and Neil started to run him and placed him two or three times during the summer. Fred put his first championship on him, and qualified him for the 1998 Champion of Champions Trial held in Amo, Indiania.

Neil will never forgot the morning when the draw sheet came out. He was sitting across from Fred, having a cup of coffee, talking dogs. When Fred opened up the envelope, there was Stonegate Rolex, second brace, running against Wilshire's Southern Son. Neil thought Fred was going to fall out of his chair.

"Here's Rolex," Fred said, "Running against "Roy" one of the winningest dogs in National Shoot to Retrieve history."

Neil nodded.

Fred said, "You're wasting your time going out there with him."

"You know," Neil said, "If Roy wore boots, he'd be shaking in them right now, knowing he drew Rolex."

The joke went on for about three weeks. Neil went in there one afternoon before leaving for Indiana and said to Fred, "You know, Rolex is probably my best chance of winning this thing, because he's so perfect on his bird work."

Fred snickered and said, "If that's your best chance, you may want to stay home."

We loaded Rolex and the others up, and headed out three days early to train them on the fields they drew. Rolex seemed to have a different air about him during the training sessions. Then the trial began. On the first breakaway, Neil knew Rolex couldn't run with Roy. They had to find their birds short of Roy's big cast. Neil hupped Rolex around, and he turned like he had power steering. Roy's judge hollered, "Point". Neil knew they were going to need a bird pretty quick, and got one. The retrieve was quick to hand, and off Rolex went. Neil looked back, and saw Bill approaching Roy's point. Rolex's judge yelled "Point" again. Rolex had his second bird.

When Roy got a second point, suddenly it was as if Rolex had turned into a bird- finding machine. Neil headed for the part of the field he hadn't scouted yet, but Roy and Bill had the same idea. Again, Rolex suddenly turned to stone, pointing another bird. Bill and Roy came in and got a back.

Sitting in pretty good shape, they had just minutes left in the brace. Rolex had three birds, and Roy had only two and a back. Bill went right, Neil went left. With about 30 seconds left, I heard a shot but didn't know till after the brace that Roy had another bird. Like a true champion, Roy dug out that third bird. So now we would sit on pins and needles for the rest of the day: could Rolex get by with three/three? As the afternoon grew old, Rolex and Neil remained in fourth place. By the tenth brace we knew they would be running in the Elimination on Friday.

Thursday night arrived, and out of 166 dogs, the trial was down to 64. When the draw got to the eighth brace the called out, "A field - Stonegate Rolex, Fred Gray, owner, Neil Lessard, handler. Bracemate, Wilshire Southern Son, owner and handler, Bill Napier."

It was hard to get any sleep that night. Neil tossed around how to beat Roy, and finally decided there was only one way. Rolex had to be under total control around the field, and had to stay away from Roy.

Off the breakaway Roy went to the left, and Rolex found a bird off to the right. Rolex had his second bird before Bill arrived to Roy's first. Point was called again for Roy, though he was in one of the most awkward positions a dog could point a bird in. Neil called Rolex in to attempt a back. He looked up, saw Roy and again, like magic, turned to stone. After the retrieve it was a race to the front again. As in the last meeting, Rolex came across his third bird. Roy held at two and a back. Neil called Fred and told him they'd gotten by Roy.

"I can't believe it," Fred repeated -- ten times at least.

After the trial, we all sat around waiting for the draw Friday night. There would only be 16 dogs left, four braces on each field. Every dog was a possible winner. We drew the little setter from Kansas and, remembering how that dog ran, Neil knew he had to get Rolex to ramble this time.

On the breakaway, Rolex seemed to know that he could get ahead of the little setter and within five hundred yards spun on his first bird. He got the retrieve. He raced to the backside of the field and was on point again. Then everything happened so fast that Neil didn't have time to think about the possibility of missing a bird. He had just handed one bird to the judge and Rolex was on point again.

As Neil walked up he saw the bird 20 feet out in front of Rolex. That's when it hit him -- he had to kill this bird. Rolex needed the retrieve to be in the final four. On the flush, the bird came up, straight away. Neil shouldered his side by side, pulled off the first shot, and then everything went into slow motion. He realized he had missed the bird entirely. Neil squeezed off a second shot and clipped the right wing. The bird came down injured about ten feet from a wire pasture fence. Neil felt sick. He was sure it was an impossible retrieve. He looked at the judge, and then here came Rolex with the bird in his mouth, wings flapping in his face. He never dropped it until Neil said "give."

The judge looked over and said, "He just saved your butt."

They proceeded to the front portion of the field, where the little setter was on point, and Rolex backed from 75 yards away. Time was called. They had made it to the final four. The trial broke, and the final two braces were drawn. Rolex drew the second brace, against "Little Reba," owned by Butch Bell and handled by Ed Sheid. After the four dogs completed those two braces, the two highest scoring dogs would have one final, full hour brace.

The two finalists were Little Reba and Rolex. As Neil remembered, it couldn't have been a more exhilerating performance. Rolex came in with five or six near perfect finds and retrieves and a back. Neil finally proved through perseverance that the dog had both the stamina of a Timex and the quality of a solid-gold Rolex.